Structure, Tuning and Playing Technique of the Sitar
What the domain covers
You must label the parts, describe tuning, and name the strokes and gamak. Diagram-labelling and short notes on jawari or mizrab are common.
Structure
- Tumba - the gourd resonator; dandi - the neck; tabli - the soundboard.
- Ghoraj - the main bridge; its flat, curved upper surface is the jawari, which controls the buzzing sustain.
- Meru/khunti - tuning pegs; pardas - movable tied frets (about 19–20), shifted for komal and tivra swaras.
- Strings: the playing string (baj tar), drone strings (chikari, usually three), a bass string (kharaj), and 11–13 sympathetic tarab strings under the frets.
Tuning
Tune to a tanpura or electronic drone. The baj string is set to Ma (or Sa for some ragas), the second and third to mandra Sa and Pa, chikari to tar Sa (some players set the third chikari to Pa), and the tarab are tuned to the notes of the raga being played. Sympathetic strings are never plucked - they ring in resonance.
Playing technique
A mizrab (wire plectrum) on the right index finger gives the strokes da (inward) and ra (outward), combined as dir/dara for speed. The left hand stops the string and pulls it across the fret for meend; small deflections give kan, murki, krintan and zamzama. Chikari strokes build jhala; fast scalar passages are tan; a fixed composition is a gat, expanded by toda.
Worked example
For Khamaj, the tarab are tuned to S R G M P D N, with the komal Ni of the avaroha available through left-hand pull on Ni; chikari are kept on Sa so that jhala reinforces the tonic. If the jawari is filed too flat, the buzz overwhelms the swara and the recital loses clarity - that is a bridge problem, not a tuning problem.
Traps that cost marks
Calling the frets fixed; confusing ghoraj (bridge) with jawari (its curved surface); saying tarab are played with the mizrab; forgetting that komal/tivra require moving a fret.